EDUCATION chiefs are struggling to find men willing to train as primary school teachers. Just 14 of 156 postgraduates currently training at MMU's Institute of Teaching in Manchester are male.

EDUCATION chiefs are trying to recruit more men to teach in primary schools.

But experts training future teachers in Manchester, who are at the forefront of the new initiatives, believe wider social change is necessary to boost the numbers of men working in primary schools.

Manchester Metropolitan University's Institute of Education, the biggest teacher training organisation in the North West, is promoting its courses to young men and runs a special scheme to allow undergraduates to sample school life.

Nationally, only 15.7 per cent of primary school teachers are male and almost half of children aged between five and 11 have no contact with male teachers, according to the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA).

But despite targeted efforts, just 14 of the 156 postgraduates currently studying at MMU's Institute of Education as future primary school teachers are men - less than 9 per cent. On the secondary course, that figure rises to more than 30 per cent with 189 men out of 798 students.

Deputy director Andy Jones believes wider social change is needed to encourage more men into the profession, both because very few men consider primary teaching as a career and because those who do often find it hard to fit into an all-female environment.

Mr Jones told Metro News: "A lot of men have always regarded primary teaching as something which is not a manly occupation and it's a bit of a vicious circle as many primary schools can be a difficult workplace for a young man to break into.

"In some schools because they have a very established female staff when a young male comes in it can be quite a shock to the system and some of our male students have found it quite uncomfortable.

"I think there is a bigger problem in that it's quite difficult for a lot of men to say to their peers that they want to work in a primary school. It's a tragedy because we are really desperate for male primary school teachers. There are lots of boys in schools who don't have any positive male role models so for them it's really important to see professional men.

"We are trying to boost the number of men who come onto our courses. There are a lot of specific, targeted initiatives to get more men into primary school teaching but it's an uphill struggle. We do have men on courses but they are very much in the minority and they find it a challenge."